Team Picks: Most Anticipated Games of August

Team Picks is Press-Start Australia’s monthly feature where members of the team get together to tell you about their most anticipated games of the upcoming month.

Why not join in? Let us know what you’re most looking forward to in the comments!

Rare Replay – Rare Replay redefines value. From the raunchy humor of Conker’s Bad Fur Day to R.C. Pro-Am’s rambunctious races there’s a lot to revisit in this retro roundup, which gamers would be remiss to rebuff. I can’t wait to relax in my rocker and reintroduce myself to some of Rare’s most revered games. I’ve set a reminder for August 4 that reads, “Revel in Rare Replay’s resplendent radiance.” I think I shall.Until Dawn – Having sat down with the first two hours of Until Dawn in the past month, I’ve had a sufficient taste of what this survival horror, teenage choose-your-own-adventure game has to offer and liked what I saw. I don’t expect this to be a game of the year contender, but having established the narrative and reached the first pivotal ‘moral dilemma’, I’m curious to see how the characters and story develops.

This is of course at the mercy of the game’s ‘butterfly effect’ system that shapes the story around all the decisions you make, even the seemingly most insignificant ones. For this reason, I’m super eager to see the consequences of my choices come to fruition and hopefully see some of the rather nasty cast of characters meet a grizzly end. I really do hope though, that the game doesn’t simply embody all the teenage horror flick tropes but rather plays with them and my own expectations, resulting in something more revolutionary than repetitive.

Until Dawn – I was lucky enough to be able to go hands on with Until Dawn at the EB Expo last year. I went in rather blind but the experience, even as someone who isn’t usually into horror games, left me more than intrigued. I’m going to put on my big boy pants and hopefully survive Until Dawn. Puns abound. 🙂

Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture – I was a huge fan of The Chinese Room’s previous games because they were all seeping with atmosphere, and while I thought Dear Esther was just a little bit too passive an experience for me I’m excited to see what the developer comes up with next. Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture should hopefully be more of a return to form, with an interesting and compelling storyline and hopefully more involved gameplay experiences.

Until Dawn – Overall Until Dawn looks like either a sleeper hit or a miss. The concept is interesting, the lighting and acting are top notch, the psychology and the scare cam moments are definite wins. But the cliched dialogue, the weak scares and the overall tedium of exploring and uninspired QTE’s seem to drag the experience down. I can’t wait to see how my choices effect the game as a whole, and Until Dawn is a definitely unique entry into gaming, but whether it’ll be a successful one is up for debate.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition – Going to sway away from Until Dawn purely because Dishonored was my all-time favourite game of 2012 (and leading into 2013) and I am extremely excited for the sequel coming soon.

The city of Dunwall was a grimy, steampunk-esque playground of fun in Dishonored, and with a graphical update it will be great to step back into the shoes of Corvo and become the ultimate assassin, equipped with both the deadliest weapons and mind-bending magic. A definite pickup for stealth and action fans alike.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition – It’s been quite a while since I’ve played Gears of War, and honestly I don’t think I ever got around to playing Judgement despite loving the original trilogy. Gears to me was always a franchise that had a good baseline story, but the execution in storytelling wasn’t always up to par, which the franchise always succeeded to compensate on by the sheer brutality and fun of the core gameplay. It’s also very nice to see another co-op shooter on the market, even if it’s a remaster of an already existing title.

The announcement of Gears 4 made me eager to replay the original trilogy, and with backwards compatibility coming for the second and third game this remaster is bound to keep me busy for quite a while!

Rare Replay –
Rare Replay was one of mot exciting announcements to come out of E3 for me. Some of my fondest memories come from The Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 when RARE really came to fruition. Playing Battletoads for hours on end with my cousins and working out the many nuances of Banjo Kazooie as a child serve as some of my greatest gaming inspirations. There are quite a few games on this list that I haven’t been able to play, so it’s a perfect time to sit down and get through some of gaming’s finest.

Avid gamer since I was as young as three years old when I received my first NES, and have never stopped since. I consider myself a bit of a balanced gamer, enjoying all games on all platforms regardless of genre. Except for Sports games, sorry.